


A Toxic Date

by sugarpink16



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: If you really wanted to it could be dick grayson/reader, batfamily, concerned batfamily, fear toxin, reader gets hit with fear toxin, sooo fluffy, there's needles at one point so if that triggers you avoid this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-14 23:30:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15399984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarpink16/pseuds/sugarpink16
Summary: Reader gets asked on a date by a guy at her school, and obviously the boys are not too happy about that, because they are hyper protective of the reader. Turns out the date goes horribly wrong, resulting in the reader being hit with fear toxin, and the boys worst nightmares come true.





	A Toxic Date

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first one shot with DC Characters ever, so bare with me. Also, I honestly do not know much about Tim, so I was not entirely sure how to write his character. Sorry for any irregularities with his attitude. Also, please leave feedback! It would be greatly appreciated. If you want to request a one shot from me, just go to my tumblr @peacepey and send me a message telling me which member of the Batfam and what the scenario would be. I also do Starfire, Roy Harper, and maybe a few members of Young Justice. Thank you so much!!

Gotham felt like absolute shit, even more so than usual. There was absolutely no sunshine, the sky remained a congested grey, and it was unbelievably cold with random wind gusts that made you miss the summer. Which is why you could be found hiding in a bean bag at the unbelievably cozy school library at lunch, instead of eating in the lunch hall. Eating in the lunch hall would mean you would have to venture outside, and with the way that the weather was, it would be a cold day in hell before you willingly stepped out of the warm safe haven you were currently nestled into. You were just about to doze off when you felt a tap on your shoulder, snapping you out of your sleepy state. You looked up to find the guy from your biology class that you had been talking to for the past few weeks. You recently transferred to Gotham Academy, and he was more than happy to show you the ropes of the place and offer you a seat at lunch when you had nowhere else to go. And the fact that he was incredibly attractive did not cause you to somewhat drool over him at times. Nope. Not at all.  
“What are you doing in here? It’s lunch, not naptime.” He nudged your shoulder and not so gracefully fell down into the beanbag next to you, causing you to move over a tad.  
“There’s no way I am going to willingly walk 5 minutes to the dining hall in this crappy weather only to get semi-decent food and judgemental stares from the entire grade. What about you? What’s your excuse?” You saw the way he scrunched his nose when you mentioned people judging you, but it was no secret that people tended to steer clear of you. Whether it was because you were part of the Wayne family or because you were the new student was still unclear to you, but considering that you were a senior, you probably were never going to receive a straight answer.  
“I am supposed to be studying, but I was distracted.” You felt him staring at the side of your head, and you couldn’t tell whether he was implying that you were the source of his distraction or not.  
“I’m sorry to hear that. Well if you don’t mind I’m going to go back to my nap, feel free to wake me when we have to get to sixth period.” You were just about to rest your head against the bean bag when he quickly stopped you from doing so by speaking up.  
“Wait! Wait, uh, listen the reason I really came over was because I wanted to ask if you wanna hang this weekend? I mean, we could do whatever, but I know this really great chinese place downtown and not far from there is a bowling alley so we could just go there after and if you want I could-” He was word vomiting at this point so you quickly put a finger against his mouth to quiet him.  
“I’d love to hang out this weekend, give me your phone so I can give you my number and we can figure out the details.” You saw the relieved look in his eyes as you agreed to the date and he handed his phone to you. You quickly typed your number in and gave yourself a cute contact name while he did the same on your phone. After this was done, he got up from the bean bag while nervously scratching his neck.  
“Listen, I was serious about studying so I’m going to get back to that, but text me later?” You had never seen this side of him. He was usually the cocky smartass that could get any girl he wanted. But now he was vulnerable and cautious, and you had to admit it made you feel nice that this was how he acted around you.  
“Definitely, Bye Chris.” You waved at him as you watched him nervously fidget with his fingers.  
“Bye (Y/N)” He gave you a wink before strolling back to his desk full of papers and worksheets. Ah, there was the cocky bastard you knew and loved. 

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur as you began to figure out the details with him over text. One major obstacle still stood in your way though: somehow telling Bruce that you planned on going on a date without him either a) flat out denying you to go on the date and making you stay home or b) running 15 background checks on the guy and have one of your vigilante brothers “patrol” the section of Gotham where the date would be that night. You had been apart of the Bat Family for about 2 years now after a tragedy occured that caused your parents to die, but it only took them a few weeks to accept you, and about two months for them to reveal their nightly activities to you (whether or not that last part was voluntary is dubious, but let’s just say that Bruce has made it a lot more difficult to enter the Batcave from inside Wayne Manor.) You tried to overlook the fact that Bruce would probably be pissed as you felt bubbly from the thought of going on a date with Chris.  
When the school day was finally over, you were relieved to escape the stoney walls of Gotham Academy. Fortunately, it had warmed up a bit, making it more bearable for you to venture to the student parking lot where your car was parked. As you approached your car, you found your two younger brothers, Damian and Tim, leaning against it, obviously waiting for you. When Damian noticed you, he made a snarky remark about how you walked slower than anyone he had ever met, but even Damian’s pessimistic remarks couldn’t bring you down from Cloud 9. Tim called shotgun, while the demon spawn reluctantly crawled in the back of your car. Somedays you let Tim drive your car since he had his license, but you felt giddy and you knew that it would be fun to drive while you were this happy. As you were pulling out, none other than Chris walked by your car, who was too distracted with something on his phone to pay attention to his surroundings. You jokingly honked at him, and absolutely lost it as you watched him have a brief moment of panic before he realized it was you honking at him. He ran up to your window, and tapped on the glass, making you roll it down. You felt Tim and Damian watching the whole ordeal, but you honestly didn’t care at the moment.  
“Hey, so, what do you think about Saturday at 7? I’ll pick you up and drop you off, all you gotta do is look nice.” Now you could really tell that Damian and Tim were paying attention to the conversation, but you would sort it out with them later.  
“Sounds great, see you then.” You smirked back and continued to pull out as he waved goodbye. Why is he so adorable, you thought as you watched the way he smiled at you.  
As you began to exit the parking lot, it was silent for a few seconds before Damian finally spoke up.  
“Who was that.” His voice was dry, and you could tell he was unfamiliar with how to handle this situation. He wouldn’t outright admit, but he cared for you and had the brotherly instinct to protect you, because if anyone could kick ass, it was Damian.  
“A friend.” You kept your response kurt, not wanting to give away too much information.  
“A friend that tells you to look nice and takes you on dates on Saturday nights?” Tim spoke up now, and even though he didn’t seem as serious as Damian, something in his voice caused you to think he was apprehensive of the thought of you going on a date with a guy he, or anyone in the family, had never met before. But he knew at the end of the day he had absolutely no control over the situation because he was still your dorky sleep-deprived younger brother.  
“Just don’t ruin this for me, okay? This is the first date I’ve been on in months, let me live.” Damian rolled his eyes, trying to come across as uncaring while Tim just kept his eyes focused on the road in front of both of you.  
“Also, please let me be the one to tell Bruce about this. There’s no telling what his reaction will be.” Tim respected your wish, and quietly nodded his head while he fidgeted with the radio dials. But as you looked up discreetly at your rear-view mirror, you see Damian wearing a shit eating grin while typing away at his phone.  
“Damian, what are you-” That’s when you heard the unmistakable noise of a text being sent out, and he grinned at you like the Cheshire Cat.  
“Too late.” You were just about to reach behind you and smack him, when you got a text notification. You quickly checked to see what texts you had gotten while stopped at a stop light, and you were horrified to see one from Bruce that said So what’s this I hear about a date?  
“What the actual FUCK, Damian. Are you trying to destroy my love life?” You sneered at him, getting ready to throw the bottle of water you had at him.  
“No, but I think we both know you don’t need me to step in to ruin your romantic life, you’ve already got that covered.” The devil himself sneered back. Let’s just say the rest of the trip back home involved enough blood that Alfred had to break out the first aid kit.  
-  
After you parked your car in the garage, you did your best to try to run past the kitchen where you knew the family would most likely be right now and up to your room. You really did not want to discuss the date at the moment, you just wanted to text with Chris. Every single text you received from him gave you a rush, and you wanted to hold onto this high as long as possible. You praised yourself mentally as you successfully strolled past the kitchen and reached the bottom of the staircase that lead up to your room, but before you could even place your foot on the first step, Bruce’s booming voice could be heard through the mansion.  
“Not so fast (Y/N), get in here” You groaned as you sighed, defeated, and gave in, knowing there was no use rebelling against him. You trudged back to the kitchen only to be met with the entire family, who were all busy with their own tasks. Jason was flipping through channels, Dick was rummaging through the fridge, and Tim and Damian were fighting over something you honestly didn’t care about. Bruce was in the middle, looking over a newspaper, looking as sharp and intimidating as ever. That was probably the hardest thing for you to get accustomed to when you first moved in. The fact that you had to accept someone as dark and seemingly cold as Batman himself as a father figure. But you soon realized Bruce could be a softie at the right moments, and that even though he seemed bitter, he had a heart.  
“Who’s Chris.” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. It was clear that he wasn’t going to waste any time beating around the bush, he went straight for the jugular. The sudden change in Bruce’s tone caused Dick to not so discreetly watch over his shoulder, and Jason to temporarily stop his channel surfing.  
“A guy from my biology class. We’re going to dinner downtown this weekend.” If he wasn’t going to beat around the bush, then neither were you.  
“Oh yeah? Who gave you permission to do so?” Oh boy, here we go.  
“Myself. I turn 18 in two months, Bruce, I’m almost legally an adult. I should be able to decide who and who I don’t associate with.” You only used his name when you were trying to get a point across. You started calling him dad not too long ago and you could see the happiness in his eyes whenever you said it.  
But not now. You could tell he was getting frustrated, but so were you. I’m 17, dammit, let me do what I want.  
“Just because you’re almost 18 doesn’t mean you are able to make decisions that are right for you. How do you know this guy isn’t trying to get to me through you? Or have bad intentions? You may almost be legally considered an adult, but you’re too naive to be able to determine what’s right and what’s wrong for yourself.”  
“Are you kidding me? Do you not think I’ve run almost every possible test on this guy to ensure he isn’t going to turn on me? He didn’t even realize I was related to you until two weeks after speaking to me, and even after that it changed nothing. His reputation is squeaky clean, and he has proved himself time and time again to be loyal. I understand you’re just trying to protect me, but I’m a smart girl. I can handle myself.” His eyes softened at the last part, but he still seemed cautious. He sighed and shook his head before speaking again.  
“Fine, you can go, but on two conditions. One, he has to come to the manor thirty minutes prior so that I can have a word with him,” AKA when he decides to show him Jason’s gun collection, you thought to yourself, “and two, one of your brothers will be accompanying you. Whether or not it’s in uniform is up to you. If at any point you even attempt to escape whoever is with you, date’s over, and you’re grounded for a month.”  
“Fine. Who will be stalking me on my date?” You weren’t going to let him off easy for that.  
“That’s up to you.” He went back to his newspaper and you knew that meant case closed. All you could to was groan in protest and put your head into your hands as you began to think.You quickly ran through all of the pros and cons of each boy. Damian was first off the list, because you knew that he would do anything in his power to ruin things with Chris. Next off was Jason, just because you knew he would be annoying about it and probably tease you or go into hyper-protective mode and bring an AK-47. You still remember Bruce called in Jason to watch over you and your friends ice skating downtown, and in the middle of laughing with your friends, you were horrified to see in the distance not only Red Hood himself , but Arsenal AND Starfire with him. Starfire gave you a friendly wave, but that did little to ease your anxiety over the fact that the Outlaws decided to make an appearance. Tim had always been sweet to you, and respected your wishes. But he was also a massive dork, and you feared he would somehow make the night incredibly embarrassing by accidentally interfering with the date.  
The last person to consider was Dick. He was the first to warm up to you when you moved in, and personality-wise was the most similar to yourself. He had always been empathetic and caring, and supported you no matter what. You also knew if something were to go wrong, which you really, really, doubted, he was the most likely to keep a level head about it and you trusted him the most to react quickly. The choice quickly became obvious as you went over all of the options in your head. You raised your head and realized no one was left in the kitchen, so you made your way up to Dick’s room.  
“Hey Dick?” You leaned in his doorway as he typed away on his laptop, clearly intrigued with whatever he was working on.  
“What’s up?”  
“Do you think you could patrol when I’m on my date? Or not show up at all and just tell Bruce you did, I’d be totally cool with that too.” He chuckled at your attempt to shake him off your date, but he wasn’t backing down that easy.  
“In your dreams, sweetie. You won’t have a moment to yourself the entire night.” You groaned and quickly opened your mouth to whine even more but he quickly cut you off before you could protest.  
“I could always bring all of the Titans along? I’m sure Wally would just love to pull the chair out from underneath your date everytime he goes to sit down.” That made you shut up.  
“ In all seriousness, (Y/N), you need to be careful. Ever since Scarecrow broke out of Arkham, he’s been wreaking havoc all over the city, and we both know he has a history of using you as leverage.”  
As much as you hated to admit it, Dick was right. Ever since you had been publicly announced as Bruce Wayne’s ward, his first female one at that, Villians used his soft spot for you against him to get as much money from him as possible. Of course, one of your brothers or Bruce himself always found you before it came to that, but there has been close calls. Considering that you were the only member of the Wayne family that hadn’t been trained by the world’s best assassins or fought crime on a nightly basis, you were especially vulnerable.  
“ I know Dick, I understand why you guys worry. Just please don’t ruin this for me okay? He’s cute. and normal.” The amount of dates you had been on with different sidekicks was remarkable, considering you were roped into the world of supers without any warning, and you found it exhausting how every single guy you went on a date with had a different persona according to your brothers. Jason would call him the spawn of satan, Dick would say he was pretty bland, and Damian would call him an “unworthy companion”.  
“No promises!” He gave you one last parting wink as you shut his door with a particularly dramatic slam.  
-  
You nervously rushed around your room as you tried to find something, anything, that you could wear on this date. You had burned through about fifteen different outfits, and you were getting desperate at this point. You did have one set aside, that you knew looked great on you. The only problem was it might look just a little too great, so the chances of getting that past Bruce was exponentially slimmer. He was supposed to pick you up any minute, and you were currently debating between the cuter outfit, or a dress you knew you could slip past Bruce. Your decision making soon came to a screeching halt, though, when you heard the familiar chime of the doorbell and Alfred greeting Chris formally. Fuck it, you thought, risky it is then. You quickly slipped out your bedroom, pausing briefly to give yourself a glance over in the mirror. Satisfied with how you looked, you quickly grabbed your purse and headed to the living room where Bruce was undoubtedly giving Chris the lecture of a lifetime. On your way down, you ran into Jason, who gave you a once over and nearly passed out.  
“Oh there is no way in hell-” You quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek to shut him up before he could say anymore.  
“Love you too Jason! Have a great night!” You proceeded down the staircase, leaving a grumbling Jason behind you as he accepted that there was nothing he could do to stop you.  
You weren’t entirely sure what Bruce said to Chris before you walked in, but judging by the fact that Chris looked like he was about to jump out of his skin, they probably weren’t discussing the weather. You smiled at Chris as you walked in, and he smiled back, despite the terror that he had previously shown.  
“We better get going Dad, you know traffic and all that.” You said quickly. You walked in front of him to give him a kiss on the cheek, allowing him to get a look at your outfit. To your surprise, however, nothing was mentioned, and you were relieved to get a kiss on the forehead back as Chris awkwardly waited in the doorway. As you and Chris made your way out, Bruce briefly stopped you and gave you a stern look. “Be safe. You should know more than anyone how it gets at night.”  
You only smiled at him, knowing he only meant well. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine. Besides, someone’s gotta keep those vigilantes busy.” You gave him a knowing wink, and waved goodbye to Alfred, who was a few steps back from the doorway.  
Chris lead you to his car, holding the door open for you like a gentleman. Bruce stood in the doorway, watching you with a worried expression on his face.  
“Master Bruce,” Alfred chimed in that wise voice of his, “She’s going to be just fine.” Bruce didn’t take his eyes off of Chris’s car until it was out of the long never ending driveway of Wayne Manor. However, his eyes caught sight of a certain someone’s motorcycle trailing not too far behind you, but far enough.

“ I know, Alfred, I know.”

You were getting comfortable in the passenger seat of Chris’s car, feeling the heat of the leather seats encompass you and the radio blast some perfect music for driving around at night. You couldn’t help but think about how nice this felt. How comfortable you felt here, and how long it had been since you could do this, be a normal teenager. Well, that was until you caught sight of Dick’s motorcycle in the rearview mirrors. Oh god, you thought to yourself, please let this night be normal. What a naive and stupid thought.  
-  
After navigating downtown Gotham, Chris finally found the chinese place he had been raving about for the longest time. He was remarkably able to find a parking place in the street not too far from the restaurant, which was nice considering you didn’t want to spend too much time walking through the streets. This restaurant was in a particularly bad area of town, and you couldn’t help but notice all of the broken windows and dark figures in alleyways. You had lost sight of Dick awhile ago, but you trusted he wasn’t too far away. He was pretty good at blending in with the shadows, years of being Batman’s sidekick will definitely teach you that. You walked into the restaurant, and smiled at it’s quirkiness. A little old lady and her husband owned the shop, and you guessed that this restaurant was here probably before the criminals were. The lady sweetly greeted you and Chris, and led you to a table right in the middle of the restaurant. You saw some pretty shady characters sitting at booths near you and Chris, but brushed it off as an effect of the place being in such a rough area.  
Not even 5 minutes had passed and you found yourself liking Chris a whole lot more than you did when he picked you up at the manor. He carried a conversation easily, and he almost always knew what to say to make you blush. You all of a sudden realized that you knew next to nothing about Chris’s personal life. Sure you ran a background check on him, but as expected, nothing really came up.  
“ So Chris, what do you do outside of school?” He chuckled a little, as if he was expecting the question, and you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but the air between you and him grew a little colder, the mood changing slightly.  
“ Well you see (Y/N), it’s funny you mention that. That’s actually part of the reason I brought you here tonight, so you can get to know me a little better.” His voice sounded thicker, his tone dropping an octave. Around you, you could feel the shady diners turn their attention towards the two of you.  
“ I recently picked up an after school job with this real great doctor. Very experimental, you know? In fact, he’s got this gas that does wonders apparently. Maybe you’ve heard of him? Dr. Jonathan Crane is his business name. But I’ve discovered he likes to be called be his nickname more, Scarecrow. “ Chris’s eyes now had this evil glint in them, scaring the absolute hell out of you.  
It was then you realized that this was a set up. The thugs around you were making a natural barrier around you. Without thinking, you quickly tried to stand up and bolt for the door. But Chris wasn’t letting you go that easy. He yanked you back down to the table by your arm, nearly dislocating your shoulder in the process, and before you could register what was happening, something was thrown in your face. You began to cough wildly as your head became more and more clouded. You felt Chris grab you by the back of your head and he looked you straight in the eyes.  
“You like it, princess? New formula. The doc said it lasts twice as long as the old stuff. And you better watch out, twice as long means twice as deadly.” He snickered to himself before ordering the thugs around you to get a hold of you.  
Meanwhile, you couldn’t register what was going on. You could only hear screams. Horrible, blood-curling wails that sounded like they came from the pits of hell itself. Looking around you, everyone was morphed into terrifying creatures, all looming over you. You heard the sound of glass shattering, and some grunts following, but you could only focus on the monsters around you that had you paralyzed in fear. You were so scared, in fact, your voice was trapped in your throat and you couldn’t raise a hand to defend yourself. You fell down, and quickly tried to scramble backwards, away from the demons. Silent tears streamed down your face as you felt your heartbeat get faster and faster. And there was that smell. It smelled like flesh burning and blood and everything scary and terrifying. In short you were in hell. There was a small voice in the back of your mind screaming at you to remember that none of this was real. You had never been hit by fear toxin before, but had seen the boys be hit be it plenty of times, and in short it was never a pretty sight to see. You know understand why they screamed in anguish, why they trembled violently, why fear rolled off them in waves for hours upon hours until the toxin finally wore off. It was like being trapped in your worst nightmare with no way to wake yourself up.  
You were now laying on the ground, shaking violently as you could only let out hoarse sobs as you felt the panic seep in. Your heart was beating so fast you were sure it was about to explode. All around you, there was terrible, horrible things. The bodies of your dead parents, rotting away while screaming in pain and your brothers turning into horrible monsters, trying to lunge at you and kill you. You kept on reminding yourself that none of this was real, but the toxin caused your mind to go fuzzy and disoriented, making it your worst enemy. It got so bad, in fact, you began to have a panic attack, and it all of a sudden became much, much, more difficult for you to breathe. You began to wheeze and gasp, desperate for air, but it felt like you were being strangled. In the seconds that you began to choke, a demon had manifested itself over you, it’s massive hands with long claws gripped your throat, constricting your air waves. You struggled, but of course nothing happened. Black spots had begun to invade your vision, and just before you passed out, you felt gloved hands on your face, which then moved to under your armpits to lift you onto something. It was in that instant that your head rolled to the side, and your eyes restlessly fluttered shut. As your eyes shut, the sounds of screams softened slightly, only to follow into your dreams, where they would remain until you woke up.  
-  
(Dick’s P.O.V.)  
As I watched (Y/N)’s date lead her into a rundown chinese restaurant from a nearby roof, I relaxed slightly. I know ever since (Y/N) has moved in with us, she has been desperately craving to live a normal life and do things that normal teenagers could do, like go on dates and hang out in the not-so-safe parts of town. But thanks to the fact that villains had learned of Bruce’s soft spot towards her, she has unfortunately been more or less imprisoned in Wayne Manor. I really felt bad for her, because she didn’t ask for any of this. She didn’t ask for her parents to be ripped away from her out of the blue, she didn’t ask to be taken in by a barely functional family hiding their night time activities, and she sure as hell didn’t ask to be used as money bait by Gotham’s most evil residents. However, even though all of this was thrown at her out of nowhere, she simply rolled with the punches, and amazingly is able to stay the most optimistic one in our family, which is why we all love her so much. None of us would outright admit it, but we all know she brings a certain light to this family that we didn’t have before, and I don’t know what we would do without her. My thoughts were interrupted by shouting coming from a nearby alleyway. I went to go jump down to see what was going on, but I casted one more parting glance at (Y/N) through the window of the restaurant. She looked tense but it was probably just first date jitters. As I slung into the alleyway, I discovered a family being held at gunpoint by a thief. I quickly kicked the gun out of the guy’s hand, and dealt with him accordingly. The family was fine, saying that I had beat him before he could steal anything from them, and they continued their trek home, a little shaken up but unharmed otherwise. As I returned to my spot on the roof, I was horrified to discover a group of thugs surrounding Chris and (Y/N), and I caught Chris roughly yanking (Y/N) down after trying to flee, and throwing a powder in her face. shit shit shit SHIT I thought as I quickly broke through the glass panels on the front of the restaurant and began to take out the thugs one by one. It was no secret I was outnumbered though, so I quickly tapped into coms and briefly explained the situation to Tim, who was in the cave. He immediately got to work and assured me that reinforcement would be there fast. As I continued to take the thugs out, I spared a glance at (Y/N), only to have pure terror go through me. Her eyes were darting around the room, tears streaming down her face as her mouth was open in a silent scream. I quickly interrupted the chatter in the comms as Jason, Tim, Bruce, Damian, and even Alfred were frantically trying to figure out what they needed to do and who needed to be where.  
“Guys! She’s been hit with some kind of powder. With how she’s acting she was hit with fear toxin. Tim, do we have something we can give her? Apparently since breaking out of Arkham he’s made a new type of toxin, one that’s immune to the old cure.” I screamed into the comms, trying to keep my voice steady as I fought. They were dwindling, about 3 left, which I could definitely handle.  
“Yes Nightwing, we have something we can give her. She needs to come home though, fast. The longer the stuff is in her system the harder it is to cure. Batman should be there any minute now with the batmobile, and Red Hood and I are preparing the med bay. Please keep us updated.” I sighed in relief as soon as Tim said that, knowing that she would be okay.  
“Roger that Red Robin. Nightwing out.” I finally was able to knock out the last thug, and I rushed over to where (Y/N) was sprawled onto the floor. I quickly held her face in my hands and tried to get a good look at her, but the pure terror that was in her system prevented her from seeing who I really am. Not only was she terrified, she wasn’t breathing. She was grabbing towards her neck, meaning that she must be thinking someone is choking her, when in reality it was all in her head. I grabbed under her armpits and pulled her into my lap, trying to secure her so that she wouldn’t lash out and hurt herself. All of a sudden, her head lolled to the side and she fell limp against me. I was relieved to discover that her breathing returned back to a somewhat normal pace now that she had no control over it, but it felt awful knowing she passed out due to overwhelming fear. I quietly cradled her against me, whispering soothing words to her even though I knew she couldn’t hear me, and occasionally gave soft kisses to her forehead. Oh god (Y/N), I’m so sorry I didn’t stop this from happening, I thought. I know I was helping the family and possibly saving their lives while this happened, but knowing that I wasn’t there at the instant she needed me most felt horrible. And on top of that, the bastard and his injured henchmen got away.  
It wasn’t long before I heard the familiar whir of the batmobile, thundering down the streets of Gotham. I quickly scooped (Y/N) up bridal style and met Bruce and Damian outside. I quickly rushed into the back of the batmobile, laying her across my lap as the car started back up. I hadn’t even closed the door and Bruce was already slamming on the gas. The look that him and Damian had on their faces as soon as they saw the condition she was in, makeup streaming down her face, bruises on her arms from where she had been grabbed and manhandled, and the occasional whimper of fear she would let out in her unconscious state, it was enough to silence the three of us as we quickly raced through downtown Gotham, praying that she would come out of this alright. I pulled her closer into me, hugging her for dear life as I felt her thundering heartbeat against my chest. Please for the love of god, make it out of this one okay.  
-  
(Y/N)’s P.O.V.

After I passed out in the restaurant, I dipped in and out of consciousness. When I was unconscious, my thoughts were plagued with gore and violence. Ironically, whenever I was partially conscious were the only times I could escape the hellish visions. I remember feeling a firm chest beneath mine as I could hear the growl of an engine. By the smell of the leather I guessed I was in the batmobile, and I felt gentle hands keeping a firm grasp on me, stroking my back and occasionally brushing my hair back to give me light kisses on the forehead. I wanted to wake up, I really did, but my eyes were glued shut, and I was yet again pulled under as my body grew exhausted from fighting the toxin. The next time I regained consciousness, I heard panicked, loud talking going on around me as I felt myself being laid onto something firm. I felt a pinch in my arm, and I let out a soft cry at the pain that followed. I could feel something sliding through my veins, leaving a small burn as it inched itself further and further from where it had been injected. I could hear someone by my side trying to comfort me by rubbing the side of my cheek, this time no glove could be felt, only skin. Another hand was grabbing onto my own, and the only response I could muster was gripping onto the hand as hard as I could as the pain continued through my veins and only grew stronger. My last memory from that was screaming loudly in pain, and feeling a light kiss on my knuckles as I gripped the hand of the person next to me, and then fading back out. After that, I was out again for awhile. Fortunately, my dreams became less nightmare oriented and the constant sound of shrill screams had finally disappeared. I began to lightly rise out of my dream state, and began to slowly open my eyes. It took my eyes a second to adjust, but I found myself in the medbay. I was laid out on a cot, a few different IVs in my arm and I looked down to see myself in the same clothes I was wearing to the date. I raised my head and looked around me, only to notice Alfred quietly working on something in the corner. He obviously hadn’t noticed I was awake yet, so I was the first to get his attention.  
“Alfred?” I cringed at how course my voice was, and I tried to clear my throat to no avail. I raised myself on my elbows to get a better look around. Alfred quickly turned around, only to see me and his eyes widened slightly.  
“ Miss (Y/N)! Lay back down this instant! You musn’t over exert yourself!” He rushed over and began to adjust things in a flurry, fluffing the pillow under me which I hadn’t noticed was there before, checking the IV drips, and examining the bruises on my arms. He was rambling on about how worried the boys and him had been, worry evident in his voice as he checked over me over and over again. My heart swelled at that, seeing how much worry the old man had been through over me, someone he had only known for two years.  
“Alfred, I feel fine, I promise. How long was I out for?” He finally stopped fussing about and paid attention to what I was saying.  
“A day, Miss (Y/N). It is now Sunday night.”  
Jeez, you thought, this stuff must have been harder on my system than I thought. Not too long after waking up, the boys began to roll in from their patrols. Dick was the first to come in, nearly sprinting over to you as soon as he saw you were awake. He embraced you in an enormous hug, and began to ramble, similar to how Alfred had done.  
“ Oh god I am so glad you are okay. I never realized how much of a fighter you are. Whatever toxin you got sprayed with was really strong, and the medicine that we gave you was tough on your system. I’m just so relieved you’re all good, we were all terrified.” His words made you recall the excruciating pain that you had felt earlier, now knowing it was the cure. You made sure to hug him back hard enough that he knew this wasn’t just a I’m-hugging-you-back-because-I-have-to kind of thing, but more of a I’m-hugging-back-because-I-love-you kinda thing. The rest of the boys poured in after that, Jason following Dick’s footsteps and giving you a massive bear hug and giving small affectionate pecks on your cheeks, a surprising thing to be getting from him considering he was weird about affection. Tim eased out the IVs and talked to you for a bit about everything that had happened, and offered to get you some water. He gave you a smile and a rub on the back, his way of saying I love you. Damian asked tons of questions about your date, completely skipping over the relief that you were okay and launched straight into over-protective mode. It had turned out that they had all patroled together and rounded up most of the thugs from last night, but Chris was still on the run. They all finally made there ways upstairs, searching for food or going to go crash somewhere. Alfred had long since gone up, and it was then that Bruce finally came up and spoke to you. He looked at you for a long second, before hugging you in a way that you knew rarely happened. No words were exchanged, you just sat there for a second, enjoying the fact that you were seeing a side of Bruce you didn’t see very much. He finally pulled back and left a lingering kiss on your temple, before saying,  
“ I love you very much, and I hope you know that. Please don’t ever scare me like that again, I don’t know what I, or the boys, would do without you.” You could have sworn you saw his eyes water a little, but you knew better than to mention it. He gave you one last smile before heading upstairs, and you knew in that instant just how much you loved this family, no matter how dysfunctional and annoying they could get.


End file.
